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CNN Live Saturday

American Women in the Line of Fire; Innocent Play Kills 3 Camden Boys; 13 Americans Wanted by Italian Authorities; Girl Killed by Shark in Florida; Volunteer Search Team Arrives in Aruba

Aired June 25, 2005 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

VINCENT SARUBBI, CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR: The cause of all three deaths is suffocation and that the manner of all three deaths is accidental.
WHITFIELD: What appears to be innocent play, ends in the tragic deaths of three young New Jersey boys. The latest developments in that investigation, straight ahead.

In the line of fire: Even though American women in uniform are not assigned to direct combat units -- we'll take a closer look.

And: Allegations of kidnapping, torture and terrorism. It's another case in the war on terror, but this time the finger is pointed at 13 Americans. Has the U.S. overstepped its boundaries, overseas.

Hello, and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All that and more after a look at our top story.

Tragic news on the Florida panhandle, today. A 14-year-old girl died after a shark attack near Destin, Florida; that's east of Fort Walton Beach. First, the teen lost her leg in the attack, then later died. Emergency officials say the shark, believed to be 11 feet long, was apparently chasing bait fish when it attacked the girl.

Well, joining us on the telephone now, Lt. Frank Owens of the Walton County Sheriff's Department. Lt. Owens, thanks for being with us. I understand this happened while the girl was swimming. About how far out was she?

LT. FRANK OWENS, WALTON CTY. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Well, we first thought it was about 100 yards offshore, but later we found out it was actually about between 200 and 250 yards offshore. Her and another 14-year-old were there swimming and had some, what they call, boogie boards that they were on and they saw a dark shadow in the water and the one girl saw the other one being pulled under by the shark.

WHITFIELD: And had there been any sightings of shark activity previous to this attack?

OWENS: Well, you know, anytime you have open water like that, you know, there are sharks and shark sightings out there on the -- in the open waters like that. So, it's not uncommon to see sharks, especially when you're, you know, 200 - 250 yards offshore. We have a very sophisticated flag system. That anytime we have a shark warnings or weather warnings or anything like that, that the swimmers are notified, but in this case, no one had seen the shark prior to the attack.

WHITFIELD: Now, reportedly this was an 11-foot long shark. Of the sharks that have been known to be in that area, what types of sharks are we talking about?

OWENS; Well, I don't know the size of the shark. That's not -- that didn't come from this office. We cannot identify the type of shark, because we're just not sure. But you know, there are several different, many different species of sharks, you know, in this water, as there are any kind of fish in the open water like that. We...

WHITFIELD: Now -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

OWENS: No, go ahead.

WHITFIELD: The beach has been closed there for about how long? What will transpire now in your investigation at that beach?

OWENS: Well, we'll continue to investigate what occurred and try to find ways to help protect the public in future instances, because we'll find out what occurred in this one. The beaches will be closed at least the remainder of today. As far as we know, observers and that, the shark is out of the area and gone. But we don't -- we can't verify that, of course, but the beaches will be closed for the rest of the day and that's the entire coastline of Walton County.

WHITFIELD: All right. Terribly sad story. Lieutenant Frank Owens of the Walton County Sheriff's Department. Thanks so much for being with us.

Now on to another tragic story and no foul play is suspected here. That's the word today from authorities in Camden, New Jersey, a community shaken to the core by the deaths of three boys.

But there are still more questions in the case. The biggest one of all: Why searchers who turned the city upside down apparently looking for the children, missed a key spot.

CNN's Mary Snow joins us now from Camden -- Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this community is stunned and struggling to come up with words to describe what has happened here. The prosecutor of this county calls it a horrible accident. The boys never left the backyard where they were last seen alive on Wednesday. Prosecutors say it is believed that they were playing in a car trunk when they became trapped in that car Wednesday around 5:00 p.m.

The medical examiner determined that the boys suffocated and say there is no evidence of foul play. Now, despite an extensive search, a father of one of the boys found the bodies last night. He was said to be looking for a jumper cable in that trunk. Now, as you pointed out, there are questions about why the police didn't find the boys sooner. The police chief said that officers searched the car just hours after the boys disappeared. Camden's prosecutor says he wants to get to the bottom of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARUBBI: There are questions that remain, with respect to how the search and rescue mater, mission was really conducted. There are issues that remain with respect to the trunk; why the trunk was not looked into and we want to obtain answers to those questions. We want to get to the bottom of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And a panel has been formed and the prosecutor says he wants answers within 30 days. One question that has not been answered yet is: How long the boys were in that trunk before they died. The medical examiner has not yet been able to determine a time of death.

Here in the community, just a short way away from where those boys were found is a makeshift memorial. Community members coming by, leaving flowers and messages for those three little boys -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Now, Mary, this car was described as an abandoned vehicle behind the car, but the trunk: Was it ajar? Was it open? How do investigators believe the kids got into the trunk?

SNOW: Well, investigators say that the car actually belonged to the mother of one of the boys' mothers and that it had been in the backyard for quite some time. They believe -- they pointed out at the press conference that one of the boys liked to play in that car. They believe that he probably unlocked the hatch or latch in the car, but he said because of the way the trunk was constructed, that it had locked them in, when it closed. Really, just a terrible and tragic story here.

WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. All right, Mary Snow, thank you so much from Camden, New Jersey.

Well, let's talk about more what's next into the investigation into the boys deaths.

Joining us now from New York is Robert Strang. He's a private investigator and CEO of The Investigative Management Group.

Good to see you, Robert.

ROBERT STRANG, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: You, too, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, before we go into where the investigation might be going, let's talk about the kind of search that takes place when you are involving children; when investigators are looking for children. What are some of the first approaches to the search that they take?

STRANG: Well, obviously, you know, they're going to interview the family, friends, people who saw them last. They're going to talk about where they normally play, where they go. Do they have any hideouts. You know, backtrack where the kids like to go and that's what they did here. They had 150 police, firefighters and emergency managers searching from 8:30 that night.

And Fredricka, the problem was that it was like the perfect storm in terms of everything going wrong. There were heavy rains. Unfortunately, the hydraulic unit in the trunk was broken. It's air proof, soundproof. When they brought the canine unit in, with the heavy rains, that it had an impact on whether following the boys' scent, it wasn't there like it should have been. It was really one thing after another of everything going wrong: The timing, the fact that it got dark; everything at once.

WHITFIELD: So, as they proceed with the investigation now, the police investigating themselves, will that be a reasonable excuse: That the rain, the weather hampered potentially the dogs being able to continue picking up the scent, even though they were around that very vehicle?

STRANG: You know, again, it's one of those things, not only did you have 150 police, firefighters and emergency managers, you also had family, friends and neighbors. Everyone was right there. There were well over 250 to 300 people searching for these boys and it was just -- all the events at the wrong time, at the wrong place and unfortunately, you know, they passed by this trunk and it's, you know, just, as you saw that video and what Mary said, it's just unbelievable that it happened.

WHITFIELD: And that vehicle in the proximity of the home, just being feet, yards away. Does it seem, in your view, that, as of recent, when you're dealing with missing children cases, it seems that in so many of these cases, the children are literally almost right under the noses of investigators, while the search ensues.

What is the case? Why is this happening so often, it seems?

STRANG: You know, it seems that way and I mean, just recently -- just watching the news today, I mean, you know, what's happening in Aruba, you know, the story in Florida, you know, there's so many things happening; it's just -- it seems like it's happening all at once.

As far as kids go, I mean, we all know, you know, you turn your back, you know, 6-year-olds can run off. In this particular case, this was almost a car that had been in place for three weeks. It was open. The car was open, itself. It has a latch under the dashboard where you can actually open the trunk. So, you know, you have to be careful of these things. I mean, you know, one can't be careful enough when it comes to kids and trying to keep them safe and I think the things that we hear about, the accidents that happen, you know, they're tragic.

WHITFIELD: Do you think a case like this was influenced by the fact that there have been so many high-profile reported abductions and that perhaps in this case, investigators may have presumed that these children may have been taken away from their comfort zone, as opposed to them getting into trouble as a result of their own innocent play?

STRANG: There's no question and I think that part of this police review, you know, between the prosecutor's office and the police department -- the Camden Police Department, I think that's going to be part of the outcome.

I mean, clearly the investigators are sickened by this situation, but everybody from the beginning were looking in nearby ponds and lakes; they were looking for foul play, they were looking for other suspicious vehicles in the area.

You know, the investigators really focused, not only in terms of the search with the canine units, but they really focused around to see if there was anybody that came into the neighborhood, anybody that shouldn't have been there and that was a big part of the investigation. So, you're absolutely right.

There's really two components to the case: One is the investigation itself into terms of whether someone had taken the children and the second one was actually the search itself, through the house the basement, the property and the surrounding area.

WHITFIELD: Robert Strang, private investigator and CEO of the Investigative Management Group. Thanks so much for joining us.

STRANG: Anytime, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, overseas now to Iraq, where Ramadi has become the latest flash point in the insurgency. Police say about 20 gunmen stormed into a police station in the western Iraqi city and killed eight police officers. Ten more officers were wounded. Three policemen were shot dead in a separate ambush today southeast of Baghdad.

And CNN has learned the identities of three of the U.S. Marines who were killed in Thursday's bloody attack on a convoy in Fallujah. The military identified one of the dead as 22-year-old Corporal Carlos Penada from Los Angeles. Also killed, 21-year-old Lance Corporal Holly Sharot from Rhode Island. Sharot was a mail clerk at a Marine camp in Ramadi. Family members have also confirmed the death of 22- year-old Chad Powell. Powell was from Louisiana and lived in North Carolina with his wife and son.

Well, several of the troops killed or wounded in the convoy attack were women. CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports on why the casualty rate among women has reached a record high.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Pentagon sources say of the six U.S. troops killed when a suicide car-bomber hit their seven-ton truck in a convoy attack near Fallujah, at least three were women and of the 13 wounded in the powerful blast in the small arms attack that followed, 11 were women. That makes Thursday the deadliest day for American women in uniform since World War II, when a Japanese suicide plane hit the hospital ship "Comfort," killing six Army nurses in 1945.

Since the Pentagon opened most military jobs to women a decade ago, they've grown to 15 percent of the force and do everything from flying helicopters, to escorting convoys, to fixing tanks.

Women are still barred from direct-combat units like infantry, armor and special forces, but in Iraq, that doesn't keep them out of the line of fire. Medical personnel, for instance, are often close to the action.

LT. SHARON BATTISTE, U.S. NAVY NURSE: Should we get an injured Marine, they actually bring the Marine back to us. So, even though we are very close to the front line, we're not correctly within the firefight.

MCINTYRE: Currently, there are more than 11,000 American women serving in Iraq and before this attack, 36 had died; 24 as a result of hostile fire. That compares to only two women killed by hostile fire in all of World War I, 21 in World War II, none in the Korean War, one in Vietnam, and five in the first Gulf war.

Earlier this year, Congress debated new rules that would have moved women out of units that serve on the front lines, but the plan was rejected after the Army argued it would close some 22,000 support jobs to women; jobs in critical specialties like military police.

SGT. LEIGH ANN HESTER, SILVER STAR RECIPIENT: As M.P.s, we're out there everyday, outside of the wire, sweeping for roadside bombs and dealing with insurgents. So, in my opinion, I think women do just as good a job as the men do here.

MCINTYRE: Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester was awarded the Silver Star for her role in an operation in March that killed 26 insurgent in a fierce firefight, videotaped by one of the enemy fighters. In a war without clear front lines, it's another example of women facing the same dangers as men.

(on camera): Sources say many of the Marines killed or wounded in this convoy attack were women serving in a so-called lioness team: An all-female unit specializing in searching and interacting with Iraqi female civilians, so as not to give offense. It's a role considered vital in winning over the Iraqi people.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The nation is split over the roles of women in the military. In a CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll, 44 percent of the respondents favor women in the military serving as combat troops; 54 percent oppose; 67 percent are in favor of women as support troops: about a third of the respondents oppose that idea; and 72 percent are in favor of women serving anywhere in Iraq; 27 percent are opposed to that idea.

Coming up: Lending a hand in Aruba -- a Texas search group goes to work on the Caribbean island looking for Natalee Holloway. We'll have the latest in a live report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTOINE: I never really heard of this happening before.

UDOJI: Ever?

ANTOINE: Ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Another mystery involving Americans in a tropical paradise but this time the consequences are known. The reasons, however, are not. That story when CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's a busy day on several fronts. In the Natalee Holloway case, a team of human and canine specialists from Texas has joined the search for the Alabama teen. And the five suspects in the case did not go before a judge as originally planned today. CNN's Chris Lawrence brings us up to date from Palm Beach, Aruba. What happened, Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, we thought they were going there -- they were expected to be in court two hours ago. But as we were reporting earlier, everything involved with this Natalee Holloway case, all the suspects, all the cases, the judges are being brought over from the nearby island of Curacao to make things as impartial as possible.

We understand that the judge's flight was delayed today. And at some point they made a decision to just push everything off until tomorrow. So the cases will still be heard. They will just be heard tomorrow.

Now, that hasn't stopped the activity here on the island, though, today. The search team has been out all day working. They are a group of volunteers from Texas. Texas Equusearch. And they are a group that is specifically trained to deal with cases like this.

The have at least one search dog who is -- what we're told, one of the best search dogs in the United States. Not trained to sniff out things like bombs or explosives, but exactly the kind of evidence that they are looking for in this Natalee Holloway case. They also have master divers and a special side-scan sonar that they say can scan up to 800 feet down in the water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON GILBERT, VOLUNTEER SEARCHER: It works much like a flashlight. You know, if you'd shine a flashlight in the dark on the bottom of the ocean floor, you would see what the flashlight sees. It allows you to see the bottom of the ocean floor. Anything that creates a shadow, you'll be able to see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: And again, that search team still out there. They plan to be out there again tomorrow. Again, they're a volunteer group, so as long as the money lasts, they will be out there trying to find any evidence that may have been missed the first time around and again, tomorrow we expect all five of the suspects to be back in court.

WHITFIELD: Well, Chris, as you say, they're volunteer, but did they have to get special permissions from Aruba, there, in order to conduct their searches and are they also working in conjunction with the Aruban authorities?

LAWRENCE: Very much so. They made a point of saying: We're working with the Aruban authorities, not taking the place of. And they sent an advance team out to kind of smooth things over, talk with government officials, talk with the police chief, to make sure that they knew that we're coming to help in any way you feel is necessary, not to try to take over this investigation in any way.

WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Lawrence, from Palm Beach, Aruba. Thanks so much.

Now, another tragic tale: Another vacation turned disastrous in the Caribbean.

CNN's Adaora Udoji has a story that has startled people from the U.S. Virgin Islands all the way to New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No one knows what happened here, in the dead of night on the island of St. Thomas. New Yorkers Leon Roberts and Tristan Charlier could not wait to get here to the land of white-sandy beaches. They were coming to the wedding of a Charlier's long-time friend. This is the story of two ordinary guys from New York. By all accounts, really good guys. Roberts, everyone called him Bugsy, 25, a talented carpenter engaged to be married.

TOWANNA GRAY, LEON ROBERT'S FIANCE: He was very sweet, honest. He cared about people. He just liked peace. That's how he was.

UDOJI: His friend was 24, a computer programmer who helped homeless kids build Web sites; an amateur jazz musician.

SIMON DASHTI, TRISTAN CHARLIERS' BROTHER: He was amazingly charismatic. He be able to figure out and do whatever he wanted to.

UDOJI: They'd spent six months planning and saving for the trip.

(on camera): The two men arrived here at St. Thomas' international airport around noon, excited and looking forward to an amazing vacation in this Caribbean paradise.

(voice-over): Which means the similarities to Natalee Holloway in Aruba are haunting: A vacation, a vanishing on a tiny island. The difference here is, both men were found murdered.

Here's what we do know: They first checked into their hotel, a modest one off the main drag. They forgot a few things, so they went next door to this grocery store and the clerk says, bought toothpaste.

JOSE ANTOINE, GROCER: Those two were just like regular tourists.

UDOJI: Touring the sites, later hooking up with the friends; the bride and groom for a night of celebration. The wedding still four days away -- hanging out on the beach, parties at night.

TWUMASI WEISEL, FRIEND OF TRISTAN CHARLIERS: We went down to the beach, to the sand and we just sat around and just, you know, caught up, just, you know, laughed, had fun.

UDOJI: Eventually the two friends and the groom ended up here at a popular island restaurant for dinner and from here, the path to a brutal crime begins to unfold.

(on camera): The bride headed back to the hotel, as did the groom, a little later. But according to investigators, the two New Yorkers headed this way, going to a club just a few blocks away.

(voice-over): By now, it's getting late; somewhere around midnight. Club 75, with its adult entertainment, is in full swing. Police believe by 1:00 a.m., Roberts and Charlier bought a pizza at this convenience store. It was the last time anyone saw them alive.

By 2:30 a.m., their bullet-riddled bodies seeping blood, were found side-by-side near a bus stop, by a driver. They lay feet from the ocean, three blocks from the store.

The big question: What happened after they left the store? The men were not robbed and they had never been in trouble before.

So far, they have little else, though the commissioner says they're aggressively investigating with the assistance of the FBI and others.

COMM. ELTON LEWIS, VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE: That we can account for all of the personal belongings to the victims to include monies, credit cards.

UDOJI: He says in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, it's an unusually brutal crime. Crime is an extremely sensitive topic here, especially the murder of two American tourists in a territory that brings in nearly 2 billion tourist dollars a year.

LEWIS: This is an unfortunate incident, but yet, isolated. We have 2 to 3 million tourists that visit -- visitors that visit the U.S. Virgin Islands annually.

ANTOINE: I never heard anything like this has happened before.

UDOJI: Ever? ANTOINE: Ever.

UDOJI: As for the victims' families, they cannot begin to understand what happened on a dream vacation.

DESMOND ROBERTS, LEON ROBERT'S FATHER: My son didn't deserve that. He's too much a wonderful and a beautiful person to die like that.

PHILLIP DESSAELES, TRISTAN CHARLIER'S GODFATHER; I still want answers that the whole community up here wants, that both families of this tragedy, you know, demand.

UDOJI: It's still not real to their families. They do share one thing with the Holloways in Aruba: All they can do is wait, hope to learn the truth.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, St. Thomas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And coming up: Looking to rebuild lives shattered by the tsunami. The effort is on to find homes for the orphan victims of Banda Aceh, six months after the disaster.

And a bit later: Why are Italian officials hunting 13 U.S. citizens? It's a different kind of case in the War on Terror.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: "News Across America," now.

Out west: Battles rage today against several major wildfires. The fires have swept across tens-of-thousands of acres in Arizona, California and Nevada. This blaze, northeast of Phoenix, has scorched more than 60,000 acres and destroyed almost a dozen homes.

Investigators in Missouri are trying to determine the cause of yesterday's big industrial fire at a propane gas plant. Massive balls of flames burst from the plant over and over again. No injuries were reported. Residents ordered to leave their homes, have since been allowed to return.

And Billy Graham's last U.S. crusade continues tonight in New York. The aging Evangelist spoke last night before 60,000 people. He stood the whole time, despite an array of painful ailments.

Tomorrow marks a grim milestone around the world: It will be six months since the monster tsunamis roared ashore in southern Asia, destroying everything in its path.

The tsunamis left behind more grief than anyone thought possible. It's believed about 179,000 people lost their lives in that disaster. At least 50,000 other people are still listed as missing. More than $11 billion in international aid has been pledged. Getting the money to where it's needed has been slow going, however, but reconstruction is starting to pick up steam.

The United Nations said today it will be two years before the hundreds-of-thousands of people left homeless by the tsunamis are moved into semi-permanent or permanent homes.

CNN's Atika Shubert just returned from hard hit Banda Aceh to see how the survivors are faring.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): These are the children of the tsunami, many of them without homes or parents. It's tough for kids, but no less difficult for those leaving childhood behind. Not quite adults, but no longer children: Teenagers are forced to grow up fast in the wake of this disaster.

International aid group World Vision, has set up child play areas, but now say youth programs are also needed to deal with the large number of adolescents stranded in the disaster.

MASRAWATI SINAGA, WORLD VISION: The difficult things with the teenagers is just at the beginning, but ones you can -- especially with them that the difficult things are building trust.

SHUBERT (on camera): Few families want to adopt a rebellious teen, but imagine trying to maneuver through the confusion of adolescence without mother or father. In fact, with out knowing a single relative left alive.

Bukhari and Handarhi (ph) are 18 and 15 years old. They're not related, but they're brothers of a sort. When their families were swallowed by the tsunami, they found each other huddled in a Mosque with thousands of other survivors, yet utterly alone.

BUKHARI, ORPHAN (through translator): I'm not looking for my family anymore, he says. I don't have any hope of finding them. If they are still alive, with luck, perhaps they'll find me. We're on our own now.

SHUBERT: Instead, the boys created their own family when they met Madun Achmad, a father who lost his wife and two teenage sons in the tsunami. They live together in a one-room temporary shelter.

MADUN ACHMAD, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): I'm alone, he's alone, we're all lonely, he says. We thought: How are we going to find a home on our own, so we banded together and ended up here.

SHUBERT: Madun looks for work during the day, unsuccessful most of the time and cooks in the evenings. There's enough money for rice and a single egg, split between the three of them. The burden of raising two teenagers clearly wears on him.

Asked if the boys will stick together as a family, at first Madun is hesitant.

ACHMAD (through translator): They probably shouldn't get any closer, he says, jokingly. But the youngest, Handarhi (ph), is reluctant to let go of the only family he has left.

HANDARHI (ph), ORPHAN (through translator): The thing is, we, me and Bukhari, will stick together...

SHUBERT: He interrupts.

HANDARHI (ph): We don't have anybody else.

SHUBERT: Madun nods in agreement, resigned to another evening at his temporary home, with his temporary family.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Banda Aceh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Coming up: A check of the headlines from around the world, including results and reaction from Iran's runoff election.

And later...

DANNY SEO, "ORAGINC STYLES" MAGAZINE: I try to show America how to live a more eco-friendly existence while embracing all the modern technologies and wonderful things that we have in the 21st century.

WHITFIELD: A one-man effort to make America stand up for the environment.

His story, later on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Our top stories now.

Law enforcement officials in Camden, New Jersey, will investigate the search for three boys who died in the trunk of a car. Their suffocation deaths have been ruled as accidental. Police had checked the vehicle they were eventually found in, but not the trunk. The bodies were found last night.

And a shark attack in Florida claims the life of a teenage girl. The girl was swimming about 200 yards offshore. Near Fort Walton Beach in the Florida panhandle. Authorities say the shark was about 11 feet long.

Volunteers in Wyoming are combing a fast-moving stretch of the Yellowstone River today, looking for a missing Boy Scout. The 13- year-old was on a camping trip with his troop in Yellowstone National Park. He and some friends were throwing a log into the water when he lost his footing and fell in, Friday night.

And you can check out CNN's most popular video of the day at CNN.com. Just click on the video link at our Web site. Watch it all you want, whenever you want. It's a whole new way to experience the power of CNN video and it's free.

Extraordinary rendition: You may not be familiar with the term, but it's putting a strain on U.S.-Italian relations. At the center of the controversy: A secretive mission that allegedly happened more than two years ago as part of the War on Terror.

Here's CNN's Alessio Vinci.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Egyptian-born cleric known as Abu Omar, spent many days at this mosque in Milan, believed by U.S. and Italian officials to be a gathering place for Islamic extremists.

He was a long-time suspected terrorists and under surveillance by Italian police, then two years ago, he vanished from this street in Milan just around the corner from the mosque.

Now, a source close to the investigation tells CNN, an Italian judge issued arrest warrants for 13 U.S. citizens, believed by Italian authorities to be CIA agents, for kidnaping Abu Omar. Among those sought for arrest, the source says, the former CIA station chief in Milan.

According to CNN's source, Italian prosecutors accused the agents of abducting Abu Omar and secretly flying him to Egypt for questioning. A little-known practice called extraordinary rendition in which a suspect is illegally captured and secretly taken to another country to be interrogated.

Abdel Hamid Shaari is the president of the Islamic Culture Center in Milan. He describes Abu Omar's disappearance as told to him by an eye witness who has since left the country.

It was right here, he says. She saw a minivan blocking the road and two people checking Abu Omar's documents. One of them was wearing a typical Arab gown and had a long beard. The source confirms investigators based their conclusions on records of cell phones used by the agents, tracking them from Milan, then to a U.S. air base.

Italian prosecutors issued a statement saying that had the kidnapping not happened, Omar would now be in Italian custody and would have lead to other arrests; adding quote, "The kidnapping of Abu Omar is not only a totally illegal act that violates gravely Italy's sovereignty, but it is also a damaging and counterproductive act in the fight against terrorism."

(on camera): Mosque representatives here deny ties with terrorism. Officials here at the mosque say they have no way of knowing whether Abu Omar was or is a terrorist, But what they do say is that they would have preferred for him to be arrested by the Italian police and be put in an Italian jail awaiting due process, rather than being sent to Egypt.

What Shaari fears is Abu Omar was tortured.

ABDEL HAMID SHAARI, PRES. ISLAMIC CULTURAL CTR. (through translator): A year ago, Abu Omar called his wife and told her that after he had been kidnapped, he was brought to an American air base and beaten. Then, he told her that he was brought to Egypt without anybody knowing his whereabouts and there, too, he said, he told her he was tortured and beaten.

VINCI: According to CNN's source, it was this phone call home to his wife in Milan a year after his disappearance, which Italian officials intercepted, that led prosecutors to launch their investigation. The CIA says it has no comment. Italian and U.S. officials have yet to be heard.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Milan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: "News Around the World" now.

Tehran's hard-line conservative mayor is declared the winner of Iran's presidential runoff. The results deal a big blow to reformists who've enjoyed years of progress. The win also raises questions about whether Iran will harden its stance on the nuclear impasse.

Britain and several other nations are openly criticizing the election. Britain's foreign secretary says there were serious deficiencies in the way the vote was conducted. He also noted the wide-spread complaints of fraud and government interference.

Pakistan's president says he'd like to be clued in as to the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. Vice President Dick Cheney and other U.S. officials said this week that they've pinpointed the general vicinity where the terror mastermind is hiding. Pakistan's president says if he had the information, he would act on it.

Armed for the summer with sunscreen and bug spray, but before you use them together you'll want to hear our next report.

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WHITFIELD: In our "Living Well" segment today: Summer is here and so are worries about West Nile virus. A Missouri man died of it this week. Mosquito repellents are useful in keeping bugs at bay, but those containing deet and used with sunscreen are causing other worries.

Dr. Bill Lloyd is in New York sorting out some of the risks for us.

Good to see you, Dr. Bill.

DR. BILL LLOYD, UNIV. OF CALIF.-DAVIS MED. CTR.: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, you're saying, right off the bat, just don't use sunscreen and deet-type repellent products together. Why?

Well, not for everybody, but especially for children. It's very convenient to have one product that combines the protection from ultraviolet rays of the sun as well as the possibility of a mosquito- borne illness.

But with children in and out of the pool, in and out of the pool, you're going to be reapplying a product like that and deet is oil based, it' sticks to the skin. So, multiple doses of a combination product isn't wise. And because of that, the American Academy of Pediatrics says: Hold off on the combination products for children.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, you've got to set the priorities depending on the situation you encounter. So, let's first talk about repellents, then. If you want an effective repellent, is it one that has to require or have an ingredient of deet in it?

LLOYD: Well, deet's very, very powerful and works very, very well. You can get a variety of strengths. I was in the convenience store this morning on eighth avenue and they had these little towelettes that were 50 percent deet. You don't need that much deet, 25 percent ought to do it and in children, you want to keep it below 10 percent.

And again, just apply it once a day. There are some substitutes you can use, a drug called precarratin (ph), which is also safe or oil of lemon eucalyptus, which is a botanical that is just as effective as a low-dose, low-power, low-strength deet.

WHITFIELD: And when you talk about children being exposed to these repellents, we're talking about breaking it up into certain age groups, right? Because certain -- very young children probably shouldn't have deet ingredients on them?

LLOYD: A great point. No deet for infants under two months and for other children, especially school-age children, you want to hold off to just one dose a day. It's supposed to work for five hours, so choose for five hours carefully.

When you use a combination product, the sunscreen can change the cells of the skin so the deet can get into the skin. If the deet gets in the skin, it could get into the bloodstream and of course, that could cause medical problems. So, apply them separately. Put the sunscreen on maybe minutes beforehand and then, apply a low dose of deet just once a day and your children will be protected.

WHITFIELD: Is this another year where it's particularly important to protect yourself, because of the threat of West Nile still being very much an issue?

LLOYD: Yes. This is the sixth year of that West Nile epidemic and there were several thousand cases last year and as you already mentioned, we've already had our first fatality. If you're going to stay stateside this summer, there's some other diseases that you need to be concerned about. They're part of the arbo family: Arboviruses. You may have heard them, St. Louis and western equine encephalitis.

There aren't as many cases of human infections as West Nile, but you're much sicker and your chances from dying from those infections are much greater. So, everybody should be using a mosquito repellent if they're going outdoors, if they're in an area where mosquitoes are prone to be.

WHITFIELD: Now, how about clothing: Are there certain things that you can wear to perhaps better repel mosquitoes?

LLOYD: Whatever you wear, make sure it's got long sleeves and long legs on them. They say lighter-color fabrics keep the mosquitoes away. Maybe that's why in all those old jungle movies they're always wearing tan and khaki outfits to keep the mosquitoes away.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Bill Lloyd, thanks very much and careful up there in the heat in New York.

LLOYD: Stay cool. We'll talk again soon.

WHITFIELD: At least wear your sunscreen, right?

All right, thanks a lot.

All right. Carol Lin is coming up, very soon, with more of CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

CAROL LIN, HOST: That's right.

At 6:00 Eastern, we're going to delve deeper into that story about the three boys who found -- who were found dead in the trunk of a car that was parked right outside one the homes.

Obviously, the question is: Did investigators make mistakes in not searching that trunk sooner and could those boys' lives been saved in the process? So, I've got a former FBI investigator to answer some of those questions.

WHITFIELD: OK.

LIN: At 10:00 tonight, we're going to explore the question of whether women should be deployed to combat zones, given the number of injuries in Iraq and one woman so far dead.

So, a provocative question and we're going to ask our viewers also to weigh in on that topic, as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Look forward to that.

Thanks, Carol

LIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Well, coming up: One entrepreneur's plans to save the planet, while still making a buck or two.

That's straight ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

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WHITFIELD: Well, he's had a passion for recycling since he was a kid and his life-long ambition has been to save the planet. Now this eco-friendly guru is taking his back-to-nature campaign mainstream.

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My name is Danny Seo. In addition to being an editor for an "Organic Style" magazine, I would say I'm probably in an environmental lifestyle expert.

I started off as an activist when I was 12 year olds and I was your typical soapbox activist. It wasn't until I was about 18 or 19 that I realized: You know, the environmental groups, we keep telling everyone what's wrong with the world and we have to change it and change the way that we live our lives, but nobody was really telling people how.

I try to show America to live a more eco-friendly existence while embracing all of the modern technologies and wonderful things that we have in the 21st century.

This is a book I'm giving as a gift and it's wrapped in this pretty ribbon. It's old VHS videotapes.

I write lifestyle books, which is one of my favorite things to do. My last book was on renovating a home in an eco-friendly manner.

We're working on a television show right now that I'll executive produce and host.

Would you believe this chair was given a new look from an old sweater?

The audience that gets the most attention that I work with are the celebrities and they're the ones who usually create most of the trends and most of the buzz and I kind of say: If they're bringing attention to a cause such as solar panels for their home, why not. That's great.

(SINGING)

One of the things I'm trying to focus on is to make eco-fashion sexy. Stella McCartney is one of the designers that I feel has an influence or who has created a very well-received line of fashion, but hasn't sold out on her ethical beliefs. So, she refuses to work with leather, refuses to work with fur.

One of the biggest concerns I get from people who send me e-mails or letters is that: I want to live eco-friendly, but I can't afford to shop at some of these stores. I can afford to buy organic. I can't afford to buy organic clothes and so, I came up with a list of 50 items that were inexpensive and green. In fact, sometimes even cheaper than their conventional counterparts.

Things that people should really be concerned about when they buy electronic items, like washing machines, televisions: Get energy star approved items.

I want to say it's very, very easy but to be honest, it does take a little bit of work. If you actually devote a little bit of time to it, if you read "Organic Style" magazine, if you pick up my books, you can do it.

When I was 12, I had one dream, one wish and that was: To save the planet by the year 2000. Well, the year 2000 passed. So, I'm giving myself another 10 or 15 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's going to do it for this hour of CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

Straight ahead: "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" and an hour-long look at the life of renowned Evangelist Billy Graham.

Then, at 6:00 Eastern, Carol Lin talks to the author of "The Great American Detox," the diet book that has inspired -- or rather was inspired by the documentary "Super Size Me."

And At 7:00 Eastern: A look back at 17 years of political banter -- It's the finale of the "CAPITAL GANG."

And I'll be back in a few minutes wit a look at the headlines.

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WHITFIELD: Hello. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

"People in the News" in a moment, but first, here is what's happening in the news.

Law enforcement officials in Camden, New Jersey will investigate the search for three boys who died in the trunk of a car. There suffocation deaths have been ruled as accidental. Police had checked the car but not the trunk, before the bodies were found last night.

Tragic news on the Florida panhandle, today. A 14-year-old girl died after a shark attack near Destin, Florida; that's east of Ft. Walton Beach. The teen lost her leg in the attack first and then later died. Emergency officials say the shark, believed to be 11 feet long, was apparently chasing bait-fish when it attacked her as she was swimming.

I'll be back with more headlines in 30 minutes.

"People in the News" starts, right now.

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